2008 Fall Newsletter

The Bander Center is pleased to welcome Ezekiel Emanuel, MD, PhD, for our second Bander Endowed Lecture on November 7th. Emanuel is the Chair of the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health, and an internationally known bioethicist and breast oncologist. He graduated from Amherst College in 1979, and received his M.Sc. from Oxford University in Biochemistry. He received both his MD and his PhD in political philosophy from Harvard University, where his dissertation received the Toppan Award for the finest political science dissertation of the year. In 1987-1988, he was a fellow in the Program in Ethics and the Professions at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.Read More

Bander Center Sister Program Established at Washington University

Dr. Steven Bander, whose generous endowment to Saint Louis University made the Bander Center of Medical Business Ethics possible, recently donated $1 million to the Institute for Clinical and Translation Science (ICTS) at Washington University in St. Louis to establish a sister program. The gift established the "Bander Business Ethics in Medical Research Funding Program." The program's goal is to promote innovative research that examines ethical issues arising from the business or financial dimension of medical research, especially insofar as this dimension affects the quality of research or the well-being of patients enrolled in clinical trials.Read More

Bander Center Welcomes New Research Assistant

In July 2008, the Bander Center appointed Elena Yates as a new research assistant who will provide support to the Center in its various training and investigational activities. Elena is enrolled in Saint Louis University's dual degree MD/PhD program, and is doing graduate research at the Bander Center as part of her PhD in Health Care Ethics. Currently, she is in charge of updating the Center's website andediting its biannual newsletters. She is also working with the Bander Center's two Fellows from the Department of Internal Medicine with their research this year.Read More

Medical Conflicts of Interest Receive Growing Attention in Last Year

Conflicts of interest in medical practice and research have received significant attention over the past year within the press, professional associations, and even the Senate.

Republican senator Charles Grassley of Iowa has recently taken a systematic look at disclosures from prominent clinical researchers and their institutions of financial ties to medical industry companies. He then cross- referenced these amounts with the same disclosures made by drug and device companies. The results showed serious discrepancies, and fueled both the media's headlines, and new government legislation. Soon to be passing into law is The Physician Payments Sunshine Act. Read More